Beet-harvester.



J. DUVAL.

BEET HARVBSTER. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18, 1913.

Patented Oct. 21

LQ'YAJL 1.,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. DUVAL. BEET HARVESTER. APPLIGATIONTILED FEBJB, 1913.

Patented Oct. 21, 1913.

mmm 1n 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. DUVAL.

BEET HARVESTER.

' APPLICATION FILED FEB.18,1913. 7 14976 41 1., Patented Oct 21, 1913.

4'SHEETS$HBET 3.

g} 9 v \b M WITNESSES I V INVENTOR Y J. DUVAL. BBET HARVESTER. APPLICATION FILED PEBJB, 1913.

L76A1 1 Patented 0st. 21, 1913.

4: SHEETS-SHEET 41 WITNESSES v INVENTOR tuated.

' responding parts in all ofthe views'o'f the i "the rear portion of the opening 2 in body ts.

"dohirises abod 1 rovided withopenin sl p y ,p b givot aitly mounted at 25 and extending is TED ST itonn Duvet, or sink-ND tomorrow, coLonADo.

hiE'EEr-HARV'EsTER.

T0 'tlltbhom it may eoflcefh Be it khfltv'n that I, JOHN DUVKL, a 'citihen er the "United States, residing'at d'uhe'tioh, in the bounty of Mesa and State; or lorado, have invented hew useful? Tfnpreveihefits in Beet-Harvesters, of which the ToHoWihg is 'a specification. My pr'esent apparatus pertains to machines tor harvesting beets; and it contemplates The provision of asimp'le, practical and efil- 1 'ei'en't tha'ehine for taking beets "from th'eg ground, elevatih'g the beets, "and eut'titt'g the tops from the-satire, i'n the order harried, as the machine is moved forward.

The present and best practical embodifri'nt of my invention of which I aih cogni- -Zah't will be understood in all of its d'et'a'ils hem the following description and claims when the same are read in co'nn'eetion with the drawings, accompanying and forming:

part o fthis specification, in whi'eh': g

Figure l is side elevation 'of the best practical embodiment of my, invention that have as 'yet devised. Fig. 2 is a broken lan of the same. Fig. 3 is a broken in- "terted plan showing the driving eor'in'e'e- *ti'ons atthe underside of the body. Fig. 4

is an enlar ed detail 1 ngiti1diria1 vertica1 section illii tra'ti've of the rela tite arrangeine'nt'oit the Heston v the hood, the beet displacing means, the beet topping means, "the? means forcontrellih the forward and backward movemeiitstf the topping means, and@ the driving connedti'on for rotating the topping mans. -5- is an eiilarged trans-,i 'verse se'ctio'n taken '.tl1ro11gh the Cup end "the hood above the cup, looking mama-amend showing the bet displ aeihg means and the; means through the inedium of which said: 'dis pla'eihg meats are *iiitermittehtly, so 1 Similar reteren'ee numerals designate corl drawings. p w I. Among other featureain'y 'no'v'el 'fiiaehinei 2 and 3,:1I'1'd sup orted by wheels, as shown;

"or by other supporting inea ns Compatible;

with-the purpose of the ihveption.

Arringed below the forward ortion i the body 1, in a plane at one side of the iem- F gito'dinal "center 't'hereo'f, 'arespa'oed plows l, "carried by standards =5; the meta boards at the plows beilfg outermost, and the plow'lsj beihg designed to loosen the earth adfaoefit is'peclficalt'ion'o f Letters Patent.

Apfifieatidn filed February '18, 191B. Serial-No. 749 -147.

Patented @et. at, 11ers.

" thebee'ts and assist in the raising of the same;

Rigid'ly connected through rodsii with the standards 5. is a transverse toothed knife blade 7 that is disposed in advance of the foliage from the tops of the beets.

The forward portioh ot the i is supported by ground wheels 3L1 'whieh'may be connected with thebody in -'the'eonventi'on'al or any other approved manner.

It will be observed that the 'starfd'ards 5 which extend upward through openin s 13 in the body 1 are provided with rack teeth 14. These rmil:tc'aeth are designed for "the engagement of spur gears 15 fixed "on a shaft 16, suitably supported on the body 1;

the .said shaft 16 being also provided with "a handwheel 17 and 'a ratchet disk 18, the

lattei'r theehgagement of "a d0g'l9, adapt- "ed to prevent casual retrograde rotation of the shaft. FBy rotating the shaft :16 in one -d=irection,thep1ows 4 can be raised to the extent desired, the dog serving to maintain the plows in the position to which they are raised. will also be noted that when the dog l9 i's held out of engagement with the ratchet the plows can be permitted to gravitate or can be moved down to the posi- 'tion desired. g

'Pivoted' to and extending upward and rearward .rm'm the lower portions of the "plow standards are curvilinear braces 20. v

These braces have beveled teeth on their 1ear edges and are extended upwardly through p pehingsQl in the body 1. The teeth'on the braces arefdesi'gned to be placedin engagement with the rear Walls of the oPeIriIrgs-QLatthe underside of 1', with aview to bracing-the plows when'the latter are positioned at Various points below the body 1.

23 is a transverse shaft disposed above 1 and equipped with fast sprocket gears 24. 2'5, 25 are vertically swinging frame sides lower afld "forward portions of the frame sides -25 and bearing sprocket gears 27.

28, '28,";are curvilinear steadyin'g rods pi'tiotally connected tothe shaft 26 and extending loosely through openings 29 in the body 1, and 30 is an endless apron mounted on and constructed to engage the teeth of the sprocket gears 24 and 27, and to be driven by the said gears 24. The rods 28 serve to brace the forward portion of the apron and its frame when the machine is in operation,

and this without interfering with the forward end of the frame being raised and lowered as occasion demands. The raising of the Said frame is accomplished through the medium of chains or other cables 31' connected to the frame sides 25 and passed through openings 32 in body 1, and connected to the shaft 16 and designed to be.

wound thereon when said shaft is rotated to raise the plows-4. From this it follows that the forward end of the apron frame will be raised and will be lowered or permitted the beets from the earth and carry the same upwardly and rearwardly on the upper stretch of the apron 30.

A transverse idler roller 34 is mounted between the frame sides 25 in'rear of the sprocket gears 27, and is disposed above the lower stretch of the apron 30, as shown,

in order to hold each of the lifters 33 to its work as the same is presented to a beet. I would also have it understood in this connection that I prefer to provide the shaft 23 and the shaft'26 with rollers 40 and 41, respectively; the said rollers being arranged intermediate the gears 2424 and the gears 2727, respectively, and being designed to support the apron 30.

In the-present and preferred embodiment of my invention the body 1 is supported by wheels; the rear wheels 42 being fast on a shaft 43, journaled in suitable bearings carried by the body. Incidental to forward movement of the machine motion istranS- mitted from the shaft 43 to the shaft 23 through the medium of a clutch member 44 fast on shaft 43, a sprocket gear 45, loosely mounted on the shaft 43 and movable in theto enable the driver or any other attendant of the machine to conveniently establish and interrupt the said driving connection be tween wheel shaft 43 and apron shaft 23, I

preferably employ the mechanism shown,

which comprises a segmental rack 50" fixed as any other means on the body 1, a hand lever 51 fulcrumed at an intermediate point of its length on the body 1 and havinga detentwhereby it can be adjustably fixed to the rack 50, a suitably-supported bell-crank 52 having-one of its arms bifurcated and arranged in straddling relation to a circumferentially-grooved collar on the sprocket gear 45, and a rod 53 connecting the other arm of the bell-crank 52 with the lower arm of the hand-lever 51. Obviously when the machine driver: orother attendant desires todrive the apron 30 from the shaft 43 it is simply necessary for him to throw the upper arm of the lever'51-jin one direction and adjustably fix it to the rack 50 when the clutch member 46- -0111, sprocket gear 45 will be placed and'retainedf"i in engagement with the clutch member On the other hand when the attendant de sires to disengage the clutch member 46 from necessary for him to throw the upper arm of the lever 51 in the opposite direction.

WVhile I prefer to employ the means just described for driving theapron 3Q 'and' con trolling the same, I do not desire tobe understood as confinin myself to said-means for the purpose'may be employed without involving departure from the scope of my invention as claimed.

Fixed to and rising up from the body 1 is a plate 60 having a ledge 61 and v.81- tical slots 63 and 64. [-1

65 is a vertically-movable plate that normally rests on the ledge 61 and is provided with an aperture 66.

67, 67, are pulleys carried by theplate- 65 and arranged and movable vertically in the slots 64 of the plate 60.

68 is a bolt earned by the plate 65 and extending through and movable vertically in the slot 63 of plate .60. a

69 is a hood carried by the upper por tion of the plate 65 and extending forwardly therefrom.

70 is a sleeve fixed at its forward end in. the aperture 66 of plate 65 and extending rearward through and movable vertically in the slot 63 of the plate 60.

71 is an endwise-movable shaft extending through the sleeve 70 and having an enlargement 72 at its rear end and a socket 73 in its forward portion.

74 is a pulley fixed on the shaft 71 and disposed in front of the sleeve 70.

75 is an expansion spring that surrounds the shaft 71- and is interposed between the rear end ofthe sleeve 70 andthe shaft enlargement 7 2.

v tops from beet bulbs.

LWAM

slight extent to enable. them to better cut the 79,. 79, are tubular uprights fixed to and rising fromthe booy 1 at op ,ositesides of the opening 3. 80, 80, are coiled springs disposed in the lower portions of said tubular uprights.

81, 81, are vertically movable upright rods guided in the tubular uprights 79 and bearing at their lower ends on. the springs 80..

82, are flanged pulleys carried by the rods 81, and 83.is a belt that isdriven by means hereinafter described and is assedfthrough the opening 3 and over pul'eys 82 and 67 and around the alley 74 to rotate the shaft 71 and the knifiz blades 76 carried by said shaft.

When a beet bulb to be to ped is placed in the cup, presently describe f, the top part of the bulb, when the bulb is l'arger than a certain redetermined size, slides under the flared e go of thehood and raises the same together with the plate. 65 and the knife blades to the center of the. beet bulb irrespective of the size thereof. When the hood 69, plate, 65, sleeve 70 and blade-bearing shaft-71 areraised as stated the springs 80 in the tubular uprights 79 will expand and thereby raise the pulleys 82 and take up slack of thebelt 83, while when the'plate 65' and the partscarried' thereby gravitate to theirnormal positions the springs 80 will be compressed under the action of the rods 81. I would also direct attention here to the fact that the shaft 71 and the bore in the sleeve 7 O are of spiral configuration and hence when the shaft and the to ping means thereon are rotated as stated, the shaft and,

the -topping means will be moved forwardly to enable the toppingmeans to better en-.

thesame'from the bulb. When the rotation of the shaft; 71; and the topping means is stopped, as hereinafter; described, the spring 7 5 expands and thereby moves the shaft 71 and the topping. means backward to their normal positions; the shaft during said movement rotating in reverse direction.

The belt 83 is passed around and" driven through the medium ofa pulley 85, loosely v I against end-wise movement and" having a mounted and movable endwise on the wheel shaft 43 and carrying a clutch member 87.

Fixed on the shaft 43 is a complementary clutch member 88. The shaft 43 is provided with a fast spur gear. 43 that is intermeshed with a gear-.43 on a suitably supported transverse shaft 86, hereinafter specifically referred to. 1

It is desirable that the topping means, specifically the knife blades 76, be rotated only when a beet is presented to said means, and to this end I provide the resilient rod 92 which serves to move and: yieldingly hold the loose pulley 85 with, its clutch member 87 out of engagement with'the complementary clutch member 88 that is fast {in the continuously rotating shaft 43. In order tomove and hold the pulley 85 into. engagement with the clutch member 88 and thereby effect rotation of the topping means when a beet is presented by one of the lifters and holders for topping, I provide tap ets 97 on the apron 30, one tap st to each beet lifter and holder 33, and also provide a. suitably supported bell-crank 98, a cable 99 connecting one armfof-the same with the resilient rod 92, and it lever 100 journaled at intermediate points of its length and havingfa-lon farm connected with the other arm of te bell-crank 98, and a short arm rel atively arranged to be engaged and-moved by each tappet 97 as the same passes. On movement andretention of" the lever 109 byea-h tappet 97 it will be manifest that the rod- 92' will be driven inward and the pulley 85 will be placed and held in engagement with the clutch member 88, and hence the topping means will be rotated so long as the tappet springizod 92 will return. to-its normal position and by-so. doing will disengage the pulley 85 from the clutch member 88 and stop the rotation of the topping means until the lever 100 is enga ed and moved by the sucrceeding tappet 9 At this point I would direct attention to the fact that the inter- 'mittent rotation of the'topping means by the means described or any other means compatible with the purpose of mynvention,

essential to'the materially advantageous forward movement andfret-raction of the to gage the tops of apresented 'beet and out 5 distaneejin front of the plates and Lis a plate no that has affnotch 111 in its v ping means hereinbefore described.

ixed on the body 1 andfQ'spaceda slight upper edgeand carries a forwardly extending cup 112, the rear end of, which communicates with the notch. v

120 is, a transverse shaft suitably ported atthe underside of the body 1.

121 is a circumferentially grooved pulley loosely mounted onthe shaft 129' and held 127 is a resilient or spring rod-that 'en- 1 gages the circumferentially-grooved portion 125 of'the pulley'123 and tends to move and supyieldingly hold said pulley 123 out. of en- Y gagement with the clutch member of the puley 121;- v

128 is a rectilinearly-movable rod, suitably guided at 129'and designed to 'move the rod 127 to place the driven pulley 123 into engagement with the loose pulley 121.

130 is a suitably supported arm connected with the rod 128, and 132 is a lever suitably supported and carrying the arm 130. The said lever 132 is. also provided with an arm relatively arranged to be engaged by the tappet 97 complementary to each beet lifter and holder 33 after said tappet engages the short arm of the lever 100 to put the topping means in operation in the manner before described.

140 is a rack bar movable horizontally invivlard and outward on the face of the plate 141 is agear segment intermeshed with the rack bar 140, and pivoted at 142 on the face of the plate 110, and having an arm 148 extending downwardly through a transverse slot 144 in the body 1,, and 145 is a cable, preferably in the form of a chain, connected at its ends to the arm 143 and pulley 121 and passed over an anti-friction roller 146 arranged adjacentthe pulley 121. By virtue of this-construction, it will be manifest that when the pulley 121 is rotated by the means before'described, the cable 145 will be taken up on the-pulley 121 and through said cable the gear segment will be rocked in the direction indicated by arrow to move the rack bar 140 rectilinearly outward. It

. will also be manifest that when the pulley rectilinearly I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent,

121 is unclutched or rendered loose on the shaft 120, the rack bar 140 will be moved inward by the retractile spring 150.

The rack bar 140 is provided at its inner end with lingers 160, designed to remove a topped beet from the cup 112 when the rack bar is reciprocated.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that my novel machineis adapted when moved forwardly to take beets from the.

ground, elevate the beets, and then top the same, and this expeditiously and without injuring the beet bulbs.

I have entered into a detailed description of the construction and relative arrangement of the parts embraced in the present and preferred embodiment of my invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exact un-v derstariding of the same. I do not desire, however, to be understood as confining myself to the said specific construction and rela tive arrangement of parts as in the future practice of my invention such changes or modifications may be made as fairly fall within the scope of my invention as claimed.

Having described my invention, what I L-The combination of ground-loosening ground and elevating the same, means for topping the beets so elevated, means for actuating the topping means, means for advancing the topping means incidental to the actuating thereof, and means for retracting the topping means.

, 2. The combination of beet-topping means, means for actuating the same, means for advancing the beet-topping means while the same are being actuated, and means: for retracting the topping means subsequently to the actuating thereof.

3. The combination of rotary beet-topping means, means for rotating the same, means. for advancing the beet-topping means inci dental to rotation thereof, and means for retracting the toppin means subsequentlyto said rotation thereof 4. The combination of rotary beet-topping means, means for intermittently rotating the topping means, means for advancing the beet-topping means incidental to the said rotation thereof, and means for retracting the topping means in the intervals between the said rotations thereof.

5. The combination of rotary beettopping means, means for intermittently rotating the topping means, means for advancing the toppin means incidental tosaid rotations thereof means for retracting the topping means in the intervals between the rotations thereof, a cup for holding beets during the topping thereof, means for presenting beets to the topping means and the cup, and means for removing beets from the cup subsequently to the topping of the beets.

6. The combination of beet-lifting and elevating means, rotary beet-topping means, a cup for holding beets incidental to the topping thereof, means for displacing topped beets from the cup, means for rotating the topping means, and means for actuating the displaclng means; said rotating and actuating means being controlled by the beet-lifting and elevating means.

7. The combination of means adapted to receive a beet to be topped, means for presenting beets to said receiving means, a vertically-movable hood disposed over the said receiving means, and rotary topping means connected and movable vertically with said hood, for the purpose set forth. 7

8. The combination of means adapted to receive a beet to bet-opped, means for presenting beets to said receivin means, a vertically-movable hood dispose over the said receiving means, a plate connected and movable vertically with said hood and carrying pulleys, a shaftcarrying topping means and a pulley; said shaft'being movable vertically with said plate, a belt passed around the pulley of the shaft and over the pulleys of the plate, and means for driving said belt.

9. The combinationof means adapted to shaft being provided With corres roman senting beets to said receiving means, a vertically-movable hood disposed over the said receiving means, a plate connected and movable vertically with said hood and carrying pulleys, a shaft carrying topping means and a pulley; said shaft being movable vertically with said plate, a belt passed around the pulley of the shaft and over the pulleys of the plate, means for driving said belt, and a spring-pressed pulley for taking up slack of the belt.

10. The combination of a fixed sleeve and a shaft rotatable and movable endwise in the sleeve; the bore of the Sleeve and the onding spirals, whereby rotation of the sha t in one direction will be attended by advancement thereof, means for so rotating said shaft, means for retracting the shaft, and topping means on the shaft.

11. The combination of beet-receiving means, means for delivering beets to the receiving means, means for displacing beets from said receiving means, and means for operating the displacing means; said operating means being controlled by the delivering means.

- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

, JQHN DUVAL. VVitnesses:

LENA MAGBAIN, 0am B. TRUMso. 

